Machine for shrinking felt articles



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April 28, 1925. 1,535,326v

W. A. LORENZ MACHINE Fon SHRINKING FELT ARIIcLBs original Filed JuIy 161923 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Apr. 28, 1925.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. LORENZ, F HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED STATES I-IAT MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y. A CORPORATION OF VIR- GINIA.

MACHINE FOR SHRINKING FELT ARTICLES.

Application tiled. July 16, 1923, Serial No. 651,700. Renewed October 22, 1924.

To all lwhom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. LORENZ,

a citizen of the United States, and a resi- ,dent of Hartford, in the county of Hartford, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inaMachine for Shrinking Felt Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for shrinking and felting hat bats and the like and has as its aim to provide a machine of this sorthaving various features of novelty and advantage.

@ne of the Objects of the present invention is to provide a machine of this kind having a very simple and effective arrangementbf belts by means of which the bats are carried in a generally circular path .during-which opposite sides of the bats are successively treated in like manner.

A further aim of the invention is t0 provide novel means for preventing thebats, as they are carried forward by the belt beneath suitable rolls, from leaving the belt and wrapping themselves upon the rolls.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims. .v

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out hereinafter more in detail.

In the accompanying drawings, li have shown by Way of exempliication one form of embodiment which the present invention may take, but it i's to be understood that this showing is merely illustrative and not rei 'strictlve of my conception, 1t being obvious` that my machine is susceptible of various modifications and changes which would be within the spirit of the invention without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the ma# chine, being'taken substantially, on line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation; and

Fig. l1 is a detail view showing the arrangement of the rolls which engage the working face of the lower belt.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, the machine is illustrated as having a frame of any suitable construction', this frame, in the present instance, comprising a pair of 51de lframes 10 appropriately tied together.

i Suitably supported in the frame are a plurality of guide rolls which are so arranged as to form a generally circular but wavy course for the bats as they are passed through the machine. rfhese guide rolls are in two sets, the upper set being employed for guiding a belt l1; and the lower set, a second belt 12. The upper set of guide rolls comprises semi-circularly arranged supporting rolls 13 over which the belt 11 passes, and deiecting or wave rolls 14 interposed between the supporting rolls 13 and engaging the working face of the belt 11 and the bats carried thereby. The lower sets of guide rolls comprise semi-circularly arranged the supporting rolls 15 and' the deflecting rolls 16 atv the bottom of the machine, is generally circular and that, because the defiecting rolls are in staggered relation to the supporting ones, the belts, togethenwith the l bats carried thereby, are given a wavy course so that the bats are repeatedly Ibent to and fro, which action greatly facilitates the felting and shrinking of the bats.

Preferably, the working faces of the belts 11 and 12 are provided with a multiplicity of projections or kneading knuckles' which may be softfor elastic so as to knead or manipulate the bats at a multiplicity of .points as they are carried through the machine. 1t will be seen'that the belt 11 at the forward end of the machine passes about a guide roll 17 which is in advance of the circularly arranged guide rollsso as to provide the belt 11 with a bat receiving portion 18. In the drawing, a bat ltlis'shown as located on this portion and as just moving beneath theV firstdeflecting roll. .The return run 2Ov of the belt 11 is through the central 75 supporting rolls 15 over which the belt 12 portion of the machine, as will be most clearly understood from Fig. 2. 'Ihe belt 12, after passing between the semi-circularly arranged guide rolls 15 and 16, passes horizontally, as at 21, to the roll 22 and then about the outside of the supporting rolls 15 and a guide roll 23 which is slightly in advance or above the last supporting roll 13 of the upper set of guide rolls.

The horizontal portion 21 of the belt 12 provides a bat delivery portion immediately below the receiving portion 18 of the upper belt so that an operator, standing at the forward end of the machine, may take a bat, afterit has passed through the machine, from the portion 21 and again place it on the receiving portion 18.

For the purpose of preventing the' bats from leaving the working face of the belt 11 and wrapping themselves about the deflecting rolls engaging this face, suitable endless tapes 25 are provided. These tapes, which are relatively narrow and spaced apart transversely of the machine, are passed, with the belt 11 and lin engagement with the working face thereof, between the supporting rolls 13 and the guide rolls 14 and are returned about suitably grooved rolls 26.v

These latter rolls are grooved, as stated,- so as to maintain the tapes in their spaced relation. The tapes may be tensioned in any suitable manner, as by means' of the tension roller 27. l

In the present illustrative disclosure, in addition to the deflecting rolls 16 engaging the workingl face of the belt 12, there arepressure rollers 30. In the present instance, two such pressure rollers are interposed-between adjacent deflecting rolls. These pressure rollers may be mounted in crank levers 31 journalled on the gudgeons 32 of the deflecting rolls 16 and having arms connected in pairs by springs 33. The delecting rolls 16 and the pressure rollers 30 may have on their peripheries a multiplicity of kneading knuckles ,similar to those provided on the working faces of the belts 11 and 12. For the purpose of preventing the bats from wrapping themselveskupon the deecting rolls 16 and the pressure rollers 30, as the. belt 12 carries the bats beneath these cylindrical members, there are provided stripper plates 34:. In order to facilitate the shrinking and felting operation of vthe bats, `they are maintained in a saturated condition, and to this end I provide above the deflecting rolls 14 and above the deflecting rolls 16 pipes 35 from which scalding hot water is sprinkled or sprayed onto the working faces of the belts 11 and 12 and on the bats carried thereby.

The operation of the machine is briefly as follows. A bat, such as that indicated by the numeral 19, is placed upon the receiving portion 18 lof the belt 11,-andthis belt carof the machine, as indicated by the numeral 20. The belt 12 carries the bat beneath the deflecting rolls 16 and the wave rollers 30 in a generally semi-circular and zig-Zag course to the delivery position 21 from which position the bat may be removed and again placed upon the belt 11 for another passage through the machine, and this operation may be repeated until the bat has been shrunk and felted to the desired eX- tent. Since the Working faces of the belts are provided with a multiplicity of kneading knuckles, and these belts are given a zigzag or wavy course, the belts are manipulated and worked in such manner that the libres thereof are efficiently shrunk and felted. It will be seen that, as the bat passes through the upper portion of the machine, one face thereof is kneaded or knuckled by the projections on the belt 11, and, as the bat passes through the lower portion of the machine, the other face of the bat is kneaded by the knuckles on the belt 12, which means that both faces of the bat will be successively operated upon substantially in like manner.

I.claim as my invention:

l. In a machine of the character de- 109 scribed, a plurality of generally circularly arran ed supporting rolls and deflecting rolls t erebetween, a belt passing in a gener-V ally semi-circular path between the supporting rolls and deflecting rolls at the top of 105 the machine and returning through the cen- `ter of the machine to the forward end thereof, and a second belt passing'between the supporting and deflecting rolls at the bottom of the machine and carrying the bats from the delivery end of said first belt to the forward end of the machine.

2. In a machine of the character described, two sets of semi-circularly arranged guids rolls, one above the other, and providing a generally circular path, a belt passing between the supporting' rolls and defiecting rolls of the upper set and centrally through the machine to the forward end thereof, and a second belt passing between the lower set of rolls and adapted to receive bats from the upper belt and convey them to the forward end of the' machine.

3. In a machine of the character described,.two sets of generally semi-*circularly arranged supporting rolls and deflecting rolls therebetween forming a generally circular and wavy path, a belt passing in` a generally semi-circular path between the rolls of the upper set .and then centrally through the machine to a bat receiving position, a second belt passing between the lower set of rolls, and means for preventing the balts from leaving the working faces of the be ts.

4. In a machine of the character dcscribed, a plurality of generally circularly arranged supporting rolls and deflecting rolls, a belt passing in a generally semi-crcular path between the supporting rolls and deflecting rolls\at the top of the machine and returning through the center of the machine to the forward end thereof, a second belt passing between the supporting and deflecting rolls at the bottom of the machine and carrying thev bats from the delivery end of the first belt to the forward end of the machine, means above the supporting rolls and deiiecting rolls at the top of the machine for discharging a. hot bath onto the first mentioned belt, and means below ythe return run of the first mentioned belt and above the second mentioned belt for discharging a hot bath onto the latter.

5. In a machine of the character described, two sets of generally semi-circularly arranged supporting rolls and deflecting rolls forming a generally circular and wavy path, a belt passing in a generally semi-circular pathbetween the rolls of the upper set, a second belt passing between the lower set of rolls and adapted to receive the bats from the upper belt and convey them to the forward end of the machine, the bat carrying faces of each of said belts being provided with a multiplicity of kneading knuckles, and pressure 'rollers engaging the bat carrying face of said second mentioned belt as the latter passes between the lower set of rolls.

6. In a machine of" the character described, a travelling bat carrying belt, cylindrical members having rolling engagement with the bat carrying face thereof, and tapes for preventing the bats from leaving said belt.

7. In a machine of the character described, a travelling bat carrying beltcylin drical members having rolling engagement with the bat carrying face thereof, endless tapes paired with said belt and passing beneath said cylindrical members for preventing the bats from leaving said belt, and means for guiding said tapes. in spaced relation.

8. In a machine of the character dcscribed, supporting rolls, a travelling bat carrying belt supported thereby, wave rolls between said supporting rolls for deflecting the belt at intervals, transversely spaced apart endless tapes interposed between said belt and said wave rolls for preventing'the bats from leaving said belt, andgrooved rollers for guiding said tapes and maintaining the same in spaced apart relation.

WILLIAM A. LORENZ. 

